By this point pretty much all Chicago Bears fans have heard of the infamous “Peanut Punch.” It’s a style of play pioneered and perfected by by former Pro Bowl cornerback Charles Tillman. One in which he would quite literally punch the football out of the grasp of ball carriers. He did it so many times that soon he began teaching teammates how to do it.
Little did he know that he was changing how the game of football would be played by defensive backs. New Bears cornerback Prince Amukamara said as much during a recent interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. In the midst of talking about his expectations for 2017, the 28-year old couldn’t help but reference his connections to the franchise.
Most notably a story about how he first encountered the Peanut Punch and how it caught on with him and many others on the New York Giants.
Peanut Punch arrived in Big Apple via Zack Bowman
“Zack Bowman brought the Bears’ big secret to the Giants and, after some prodding, spread it like religion.
In 2014, members of his new team noticed that Bowman, a little-used cornerback toward the end of his six-year Bears career, kept forcing fumbles during preseason practice.
“It was crazy,” cornerback Prince Amukamara said. “Bowman came there and was getting about two turnovers a day just by punching the ball. Just because it was new. (Receivers) didn’t know how to lock it in. Guys hadn’t seen it or experienced that type of pressure.”
Finally, his fellow Giants cornerbacks — including Amukamara, who the Bears signed to a one-year, $7 million deal in March — asked him about the secret.
It was, of course, the Peanut Punch, popularized by former Bears cornerback Charles Tillman.
“Guys started inquiring, and asking, ‘Man, how are you doing it?’” Amukamara said. “And then after that, me and the other guys, we started doing it. …
“We were all thankful that Bowman taught us that.”
Zack Bowman was embracing the punch long before he arrived in New York. In fact he employed it successfully on a number of occasions. None more memorable, ironically, than during a game against the Giants in 2010.
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Lasting legacy
Bowman spent six seasons with the Bears. He elevated in and out of the starting lineup on defense throughout that time. He never could stick though due to consistency issues. That didn’t stop him from taking the lessons he learned to heart though. Despite spending just one year in New York, his tips about the punch seemed to stick.
A year after Bowman was one the team, the Giants forced 18 fumbles in 2015. Six of them were caused by defensive backs. That’s a pretty substantial impact and a perfect encapsulation of how far Tillman’s influence has gone throughout the league. Nowadays other cornerbacks are using variations of it to great effect. Of course they have a long way to go to top the master.
Tillman retired with 44 forced fumbles in his career. That’s the most for any defensive back in NFL history. People may imitate him, but they’ll never duplicate him.
